What Does Starfish Eat? What Is The Feeding Mechanism?

Hello, it's us again! =)

Are you thinking what does a starfish eat and what is the feeding mechanism? 

If yes, you're in for a treat as we'll be diving into the types of food starfishes eat and its feeding mechanism! =)

Starfish are powerful hunters and primarily feed on mollusks. Their main sources of food are clams, oysters sand dollars and mussels, which are usually attached to rocks or otherwise unable to escape quickly. They also eat snails and injured fish, when they can find them!

Some species find decomposing plants and animals in the water or on the beach and consume them, making for much easier prey but lower nutritional value and increased competition from birds. Other starfish hunt in the water, catching sponges, plankton and even coral for their dinner!

Specifically for Chocolate chip starfish, they are scavengers, eating foods that have dropped to the bottom of the tank, but they are also predators and will eat corals, as well as killing and eating many small animals, even snails. You can feed your chocolate chip star fish meaty foods such as muscles, shrimp and squid! Yummy! =)

So how do starfishes eat?

The truth is that starfish are actually very clever at staying alive. Their most vulnerable parts, including the mouth and stomach, actually face the rocks or ground they cling to. 

When a starfish has captured a mollusk, it first wraps itself around the creature tightly. Then it uses its powerful arms to break the muscles that hold a mollusk's shell together, exposing the meaty interior. 

After that, the starfish actually pushes its stomach out of its mouth and eats the contents of the mollusk whole. When it's done, the starfish re-swallows its stomach and begins to digest its meal more fully!

The starfish is eating the shrimp! Yummy! =)

As the shrimp is fed to the starfish, the starfish uses the tube feet to move the shrimp towards the stomach.

Here's a video for you guys to check out on how a starfish eats a shrimp!

Enjoy the video guys!

Hope y'all are well-fed with the information on what does starfish eat and their feeding mechanism!

STARFISH, lighting the way to biomimicry!

Till' next time! =)